December campaign results in DWI arrests

Minnesota law enforcement agencies arrested 2,551 impaired drivers as part of a statewide Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over DWI enforcement campaign in December, according to Department of Public Safety (DPS) Office of Traffic Safety preliminary reports from 337 reporting agencies.

A similar DWI crackdown in December 2011 resulted in 2,600 DWI arrests.

“Our goal with these campaigns is to educate about the importance of planning a sober ride,” said Lieutenant Eric Roeske, Minnesota State Patrol.

The Minnesota State Patrol reported 544 arrests during the extra enforcement. In Greater Minnesota, where 77 percent of the drunk driving deaths occur annually, agencies with the most arrests included St. Cloud PD (43), Rochester PD (40), Moorhead PD (33), Duluth PD (23) and Red Lake Public Safety – Law Enforcement (23).

The State Patrol reported the highest alcohol-concentration in the state during the December campaign: 0.47. The legal limit is 0.08. Twenty-three agencies reported their highest alcohol-concentration was at or more than 0.20.

Extra DWI patrols will continue in 2013 on roads in Minnesota’s 13 counties with the highest combined totals of drunk driving traffic deaths and alcohol-related serious injuries.

To view all arrests by agency and their highest alcohol-concentration DWI arrest, visit dps.mn.gov/divisions/ots/Documents/dec-dwi-results.pdf.

In the last five years, 651 people were killed in drunk driving crashes, 111 in 2011 alone. Each year, nearly 30,000 people are arrested for DWI.

Tags: local news, news, dwi, arrests